Sus. And the producer of radio's outstanding theater of thrill and adventure, William N. Robeson.
The story you are about to hear may require accessory equipment in addition to your radio set, especially if you are a parent.
We suggest that you provide yourself with a glass of water to slake the dryness in your mouth and melt the lump in your throat.
And also a handkerchief or some other suitably absorbent material to cope with your tears.
It is a story of unpremeditated murder, the unwitting and unplanned killing of a little boy by his father.
It is a story in which fate overtakes love and tragedy lurks in the blue empyrean.
It is a story you will not soon forget.
Listen, listen then, as Miss Ruth Hussey stars in Firing Run, which begins in exactly one minute.
How can heroism be symbolized?
One example is in the shape of a bronze cross with an eagle on the center and a scroll below the eagle bearing the inscription, FOR VALOR.
The ribbon is a broad band of blue bordered on both sides by narrow white stripes and edged with red.
This is the United States Army's Distinguished Service Cross,
awarded to those soldiers who distinguish themselves by extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy.
It is worn on the left side above the breast pocket and is one of the outstanding accolades our country can bestow.
Of the millions of men who have served in the armed forces of our country,
only a comparative few have so conducted themselves as to earn this valued award.
The Distinguished Service Cross of the United States Army stands as a model for dedicated service and heroism of a high order.
It is one symbol of heroism which only the brave and determined may attain.
And now...
Firing Run, starring Miss Ruth Hussey.
A tale well calculated to keep you in.
Suspense.
Some of them look like killers, the aces of World War II and Korea.
Others, like Mark, are gentle and won't talk of combat.
Mark would never speak of war, but I know that what happened to him in the blue New Mexico sky that morning left a scar deeper than any he'd had in action.
Mark had been an ace in Korea, and he's one more aerial gunnery meats than any other regular captain in the Air Force.
He's so good that for years he's been the number one test pilot on guns and rockets at desert proving grounds.
A pleasant life for all four of us, once I'd learned to get used to sand in the rugs and scorpions in the backyard.
A settled life, almost like a civilian's, until that horrible morning.
Mark had a rocket test flight, so the day started early with the four of us at breakfast.
Hap, would you pass the cream, please?
Oh, sure, Dad.
Hap, hold the handle towards your father. I've told you.
I forgot.
Dad, can I watch the drone take off?
Me too.
What big shot?
Watch the flying fortress take off.
I don't want you kids cluttering up that flight line today. This is the last firing run of the series.
And there's also the small matter of school.
Sergeant Crenshaw said I should help him start the engines again.
You sure he did?
Yeah, Dad, honest.
All right.
Daddy, are you going to fly the big plane?
Nobody flies the big plane. It flies itself, stupid.
Hap, I warned you about talking to your brother like that.
Yes, Mother. Look, Petey, Lieutenant Cameron, you know him.
He flies the big plane. Only he flies it from the ground by radio.
Then Dad shoots it down with rockets from his jet, see? Like this.
Boom!
Finish your breakfast.
I could fly the big plane.
I'll bet.
I can too, Fly. I flew my scooter yesterday right over the PX.
You're a liar.
Hap, I'll not warn you again.
Well, he is a liar.
He's just going through a stage.
Now what? Oh, hi, Kathy.
Hello, Mrs. Stacey. Can Hap come out and play?
Sure. Go play with your new conquest, the Colonel's daughter.
What a politician.
I am not.
Your school bus is due in 20 minutes, so don't get lost.
I'm through too, Mommy.
You clear out too then. And don't bang the door.
Oh, honestly.
Never a dull moment.
Is this the big day, darling?
It sure is. Every brass hat in the Pentagon's waiting for the results.
Goodness, don't miss.
You sound like Don Cameron.
He offered to make the drone fly straight and level so I couldn't miss.
Why don't you let him?
Oh, this is a test, Sue.
Enemy planes don't fly straight and level. They twist and turn and evade.
We don't prove the rocket if I shoot down a sitting duck just to look good.
That's my boy.
Well, I got a charge.
Will you be home for lunch?
Yes.
Hap, Petey, your father's leaving.
Where are they?
Oh, skip it. Probably heading for the flight line to drive the sergeant nuts.
Don't worry.
Don't worry, he said.
And I didn't. As I headed back for the dishes, my mind was on the day's marketing.
Not on Hap or Petey.
If I'd only known where they were.
Hap, my father told me to stay off the field.
It's okay, Kathy. Sergeant Crenshaw is my buddy.
That's his drone on the runway.
Heck, he already started the engines.
He said I could help.
Well, come on. Let's go see him in the cockpit anyway.
Oh, golly, Hap, my daddy'd shoot me.
Come on. You ever been in a flying fortress?
No, but...
Well, come on then.
I want to come too.
You go home. You're a fever. We don't want fevers around.
I am not.
All right, Petey, I didn't mean it.
Listen, you go home anyway. You might get hurt here.
Come on, Kathy.
Do you think we ought to?
Come on, hang on to my hand.
It's so windy, it's blowing my dress.
It's just a prop blast. Stay down low like this. Okay?
I don't like it. Half of us will back.
No, come on. We'll go through the bomb bay.
Here. Help me up.
It's spooky here.
Oh, follow me along the catwalk.
Don't slip.
Oh, boy. Here's the flight deck.
Here's where the navigator sits.
And up there's where...
Hap? What's wrong?
He's not here.
The sergeant's not here.
Hap, I want to go.
Yeah. Come on.
Don't take the bomb bay, Snart.
He's ready to roll.
No! No! No, sergeant!
He's...
Hap, we're moving!
The plane's backing up!
The second act of...
Suspense continues in one minute.
Another visit with Joe and Daphne Forsythe.
Joe?
Joseph?
What? What? What?
Who is she?
Who's who?
Who were you dreaming about?
Was I dreaming?
You were talking in your sleep and giggling.
How about that?
What were you giggling about?
I can't remember.
Joseph, you mentioned a girl's name.
Oh? What name?
Spass.
Spass?
Yes, Spass. Candy Spass.
It sounded like a dancer or a striptease or something.
Oh.
Oh, what?
Well, I must have said Candy Spass.
Candy Spass is a horse. I bet on him once.
You bet on a horse?
Yeah, we had a pool.
I could have won three dollars.
Well, you should have put the money into savings bonds.
They're a much better investment.
It was only 50 cents.
For 63 cents a day, you can buy a 25 dollar bond a month.
And one year's worth of bonds will bring 300 dollars when they mature.
What's more, they're guaranteed to be winners.
The whole United States stands behind them.
Uh-huh.
So don't waste money betting on horses.
Put it in savings bonds.
Okay. Can I still dream about horses, though?
If you do it quietly.
Say, why were you giggling about a horse?
And now...
We continue with Act Two of Firing Run, starring Miss Ruth Hussey.
A tale well calculated to keep you in...
...suspense.
Mommy, can I have a cookie?
You just finished breakfast.
Oh, Mom.
Oh, all right.
Oh, boy.
Take one for Kathy and one for your brother, and tell them it's time for the school bus.
They flew away on their phones.
Hmm?
They flew away on their phones.
I can't understand a word you say with your mouth full.
I said, have a cookie.
Oh, Pee-Tee, don't fib like that.
They did!
Now, Pee-Tee, listen to me.
Mommy knows you aren't really a fibber.
But other people don't, so just try to say only what happens.
What really and truly happens, all right?
Now, go tell Help, its time for the bus.
He flew away on the airplane with Kathy!
Pee-Tee, stop that fibbing!
He got into his tummy and then it flew away.
What kind of an airplane?
The big one.
The drone?
Oh no.
Oh, they couldn't have.
Petey, so help me if you're lying.
Come on.
Air Force 647 from ground control.
How do you read me, 647?
Ground control from Air Force 647.
I read you badly.
Three by three, very garbled.
Our transmitter's okay, Lieutenant.
Must be his receiver.
Yeah, okay, Sergeant.
Mark, you're coming in loud and clear.
A trouble's at your end.
Say again, Don, you're fading.
Air Force 647 from ground control.
We read you four square.
I say again, we read you.
Well, I'm not gonna worry about it now.
When the drone reaches 12,000,
I'll make my first fireman, Air Force 647, over and out.
What the, what's that dame doing here?
Joe, tell her to get that cotton-picking car
off the flight line.
Now, wait a minute, it's Captain Stacy's wife.
See what she wants, Sergeant.
Air Force 647, this is ground control.
I say again, Mark.
I'm afraid you can't stay out here, Mrs. Stacy.
We're running a firing test.
Well, I know, I know, Sergeant.
I'm not sure, of course, but I think,
well, it's possible that my boy is in the drone.
What, half?
I think so, and Colonel Master's daughter.
Oh, now, Mrs. Stacy, that couldn't be.
It just couldn't.
I think they are.
No, ma'am.
I buttoned up that drone myself.
I started the engines and lined her up on the runway,
and there's nobody in there.
Are you sure?
Absolutely certain.
Now, you just drive on home,
and I'll bet you'll find that young fellow
robbing your icebox.
Oh, hi there, Peeny.
Hello, Sergeant.
I didn't see you in the backseat.
Know where your brother is, Peeny?
He says he saw them get in the plane.
Oh, so that's it.
Well, my little boy did the same thing when he was your age.
But, Peeny, we don't like storytellers in the Air Force.
They did too, Gideon.
You got in the back, and you got out the front.
Oh?
And then you drove off.
Drove off in what?
That jeep.
What jeep?
Which one?
The jeep with the red flag on it.
He's right, Mrs. Stacy.
He isn't telling a story.
Act Three of Suspense follows in one minute.
We have together ample capacity in freedom to defend freedom.
This is NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
NATO's many achievements are plates of the shield
which it is forging to protect peace and freedom.
But the shield is still thin and needs constant strengthening.
True, NATO forces in Europe cause any potential aggressor
to exercise caution.
But these forces are insufficient to remove
all threat of attack.
As NATO forces grow, so do hopes of world peace.
The United States of America is a part of NATO.
You should be aware of and alert to the objectives and programs
of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
And now we continue with Act Three of Firing Run,
starring Miss Ruth Hussey, a tale well calculated
to keep you in suspense.
On the ground it was horrible, with Don Cameron trying hopelessly
to contact Mark and Mark's unheeding voice crackling from the radio.
Jet six four seven from ground control.
Mark, break off.
Do not, repeat, do not make your run.
Mark, break off, abort your run.
I could see the vapor trails now high over the desert,
the white track of the ancient bomber crawling across the sky.
Mark tracing a contrail swiftly and precisely above and behind it,
overtaking it.
It was horrible on the ground, but when I thought of the terrified children
in the cockpit, then it was unbearable.
I want my father.
It's going to be all right, Kathy.
Petey will tell him, the school bus must have gone by.
Mom will ask Petey and he'll tell her.
Maybe, maybe they won't believe him.
Yes, yes they will too.
Kathy, look, there he is.
What?
Who?
My dad.
Look, see way high.
See the contrails?
Oh, half my wildlife father.
He's turning.
Maybe he knows.
He isn't coming toward us.
He's just turning up there, like he's waiting.
Sue, it's no use.
I can't contact him at all.
What are we going to do, Don?
I don't know.
Pray that he misses.
That guy doesn't miss.
Lieutenant, can't you dive her for the deck and land?
Dive that old racket, pull the wings off it.
Wait, wait, there he is again.
Ground control, do you see him?
Ground control from six four seven.
I'm in position, commencing my first run.
Angels fifteen.
Suddenly, it was not Mark at all.
That cold, relentless voice, chanting a song of death.
It couldn't be Mark.
It was the voice of a stranger, a killer stalking my little boy.
Okay, little fire range done.
Stand by for first album.
Stop him, stop him, stop him.
Ground control sergeant, Sue, snap out of it.
Hang on to yourself.
Begin evasive action, Don.
Make it good.
Make it good, he says.
Now look, Sue, I'll do my best.
Just before he reaches his point of release, I'll try a high wing over.
It'll shake up the kids, but if the wings stay on...
There he goes, Lieutenant.
There he goes.
Wait, wait.
We've got to wait till the last second.
Cassie, he's turning toward us.
He's coming at us.
Oh, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, no.
No, don't shoot.
What's happening?
We're turning, we're falling.
Oh, we're almost upside down.
Oh, Daddy.
Daddy, Daddy, Daddy.
You can look, Sue.
No, don't.
He missed.
I can't hardly believe it.
He missed.
You foxed him, Lieutenant, this time.
Very nice, Don, very nice.
And I'll try the second album.
I'll wind up better this time.
Oh, darling, please.
He won't miss twice, Lieutenant, you know that.
I'm in position.
Starting my second firing line, commencing evasive action.
If we can just do it again, just once more.
I'm on my way.
Ah, this is our honey, Don.
Lieutenant, you better start your wing over.
He's ready to fire.
The contrail from the jet reached swiftly,
almost scornfully for the lumbering bomber.
Something in its purposeful track told us all
that within seconds the drone would be a screaming,
flaming pyre for the two children.
And there was nothing, nothing that any of us could do to save them.
I thought of Mark, cool and deadly at the work he did so well,
only seconds from shattering his whole life.
I felt darn tense at his control box,
ready for a last, hopeless swerve of the clumsy ship.
And then it came to me, the only way, the only chance.
It might cost my son his life,
but I knew I must try it, for I knew Mark.
If I could find the courage.
Don, don't!
What do you mean? Let go!
No, no, don't try to evade him.
Make it a sitting duck.
What do you mean?
She's nuts, Lieutenant, he'll plaster it.
No, no, he won't let you make him look good.
Give him an easy target, Don.
He'll let it go.
Suppose he doesn't.
I know him. Do it!
All right.
Oh, no, straight and level with that guy,
he'll splatter it all over the sky.
I'm approaching your release point.
Are you evading?
Firing.
Oh, no!
What are you doing?
Trying to make me look good?
I'm holding fire, this is too easy.
Can't you maneuver?
Something wrong?
Something's wrong, Star, the general left turn.
Left turn.
Yes, sir.
Yes, sir, here we go.
Roger, your turn.
I'm sliding in for a look.
See him?
He's right on the wing.
Hey, there's somebody in the cockpit.
Ma'am.
Don, boy, if you ever landed one of those things right,
do it now.
Do it now.
Can you do it, Don?
Can you?
I've done it before, but never like this.
Okay, Sergeant, watch my gauges.
Easing off her power.
Manifold pressure 18 inches, sir.
Dropping her gear.
Gear down, sir.
Tell her that Sir Espy, get that wheels down.
I can do without that.
Flaps down, Sergeant.
Flaps down, sir.
It was minutes, but it seemed hours before the big plane
lumbered into the pattern, wheels reaching awkwardly
for the runway.
I closed my eyes and prayed, and then...
Hey, Lieutenant, just down the way.
When the plane stopped, two very shaky children
were helped out.
All Petey said was, see, he did too fly the airplane,
and to this day he thinks his brother can fly.
Mark's knees buckled when he climbed from his jet.
He knelt on the flight line and held half and Kathy closely,
very closely for a long moment.
And when he looked into my eyes, I saw gratitude and faith.
He still tests guns and rockets, but sometimes in the evening
after a flight, I catch a distant look in his eye,
know that he's closing on that ancient flying fortress
over New Mexico.
And then I go to him and touch his lips and talk of other things.
Suspense.
In which, Mithruth Hussey starred in William M. Robeson's
production of Firing Run, written by Michael Frost.
Supporting Miss Hussey in Firing Run were Dawn Bender,
Eddie Firestone, Dick Beals, Sam Pearce, and Ken Christie.
Listen.
Listen again next week when we return with another tale
well calculated to keep you in...
Suspense.
Suspense has been brought to you through the worldwide facilities
of the United States Armed Forces Radio and Television Service.
Music.